The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service has announced two criminal cases against the shipbuilding companies Damen Shipyards Gorinchem and Damen Naval Shipyards. One of the cases is related to sanctions against Russia.
According to the prosecutions’s statement, the first case was caused by bribes and high commissions for agents. These agents were engaged in the sale of ships to various countries in Africa, Asia and South America. The second case is “related to the violation of sanctions imposed in response to the war between Russia and Ukraine.”
Damen is an international group of shipbuilding companies. Damen quickly responded to the prosecutor’s office’s claims. Regarding the bribery allegations, Damen stated that the investigation covered the period from 2006 to 2016, and after eight years of investigation, the prosecutor’s office compiled a dossier that mainly deals with suspicions of forgery rather than corruption.
“With regard to the suspicion of violating the Sanctions Act, Damen can report that it has always acted in accordance with the applicable sanctions packages and that full transparency has been exercised about its activities. Damen is therefore surprised that one case from June 2022 is now being submitted to the court. This is a case involving the supply of a very limited number of civilian cranes to Russia. This delivery took place within the sanctions legislation in force at the time,” the company said in a statement.
Due to the sanctions, the Russian side also had claims against Damen Shipyards. In January, the Moscow Arbitration Court decided to recover 598,627,836.75 rubles from Damen Shipyards Gorinchem B.V. in favor of Rosmorport. According to the court’s materials, Rosmorport and Damen signed several contracts in 2020. However, in 2022, Damen refused to fulfill the contracts of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
